Record NHS waiting lists will "probably go up higher" despite Rishi Sunak's vow to slash delays, a Tory Health Minister has admitted.
Maria Caulfield was challenged over the dire backlog for treatment, as 7.4 million people languish on waiting lists in England.
The Prime Minister promised that NHS waiting lists would fall as one of his five pledges in January, when 7.2 million people were waiting for routine care.
But the figure rose to the highest level in the NHS's 75-year history in April, according to figures released last month.
Ms Caulfield said things would likely get worse before they get better as the NHS battles to tackle the Covid backlog.
When presenter raised the size of the waiting list, Ms Caulfield said: “That probably will go up higher because we’re offering more procedures ... but the length of time people are waiting for their procedures is actually going down and that’s what matters to patients.”
She added: “There will always be people waiting for procedures, whether that’s out-patient procedures, operations and investigations.”
Pressed on how many people would be on the waiting list, she said: “We’ve always been very clear that after Covid, when routine procedures were shut down quite rightly to focus on Covid.
"We always said that waiting lists would go up before it would start to come down. So it will start to come down."
Challenged on why she said it would go up, she said: "So it will go up before it comes down."
Pressed again, Ms Caulfield said: “What’s important to patients is how long they have to wait, and in England we’re able to say to patients ’you’re not waiting two years, you’re not waiting 18 months, you’re waiting less than a year’.”
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “The NHS turns 75 during the biggest crisis in its history, and the Conservatives admit it is going to get even worse.
"The Conservative minister is wrong - people are "really worried" about the record-long waiting lists in the NHS today."
Earlier, he accused the Prime Minister of trying to blame striking NHS staff for his failure to cut waiting lists.
"Rishi Sunak, when he became Conservative Party leader, he said he would cut waiting lists and they are rising and they are continuing to rise," Mr Streeting told Sky News.
"And today he is, I think, looking to blame NHS staff. He is saying 'I'm going to really struggle to get these NHS waiting lists down because NHS staff are out on strike'."
He said Mr Sunak was acting as a "commentator rather than a leader" - and urged him to "knock some heads together".
Mr Streeting said: "I think his Health Secretary is failing to negotiate an end to these strikes, I think they have badly under-estimated the degree of palpable anger in the NHS workforce, not just about their pay but actually about their patients and the conditions they are working in.
"They are slogging their guts out and they know that patients aren't getting good enough care, through no fault of their own, and they are desperate for some light at the tunnel but the Prime Minister isn't providing it."
He warned that the NHS will die without "the necessary investment and reform".
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